Wrapping



Feb. 27, 1968 AKE NlLssoN WRAPPING 2 Sheets-.Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 20, 1966 INVENTOR KE NlLssoN BY *M ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,370,783 WRAPPING ke Nilsson, Vaksalagatan 19, Uppsala, Sweden Filed Sept. 20, 1966, Ser. No. 580,658 Claims. (Cl. 229-87) Generally, it may be said that hitherto no wrapping for packing thin flat objects has been provided which is entirely satisfactory in every respect. Natural demands on such wrappings are that they should be easy to handle, that they should protect the packed objects satisfactorily, even when rather roughly handled, and that they should be comparatively cheap. At least in the case of wrappings for photographs which are often expensive, for delivery by mail, for instance, the latter requirement has had to stand back in favor of the necessity for the photographs to reach the addressee in undamaged condition.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the drawback mentioned above and for this purpose the wrapping according to the invention consists of a exible buffer box in the form of a dat box body with foldable end flaps and longitudinal side aps, the box body having portions supporting the objects packed against displacement laterally and longitudinally as well as portions projecting, in the folded condition of the box, beyond the outline of the object packed to serve as impact absorbing butfers.

The invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows diagrammatically some embodiments of the invention chosen as examples.

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a small bundle of objects such as photographs, for instance, intended to be wrapped.

FIGURES 1a, 1b, lc and 1d show a first embodiment of the invention with the successive steps involved for wrapping the same.

FIGURES 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d show a similar series of steps for a second modication.

FIGURES 3a, 3b and 3c illustrate a slightly simplied wrapping of a third embodiment of the invention, and

FIGURES 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d illustrate a fourth embodiment.

All the wrappings shown are intended for packing thin, iiat objects, such as a small bundle of photographs for instance indicated in the drawing by the object A.

As shown in the drawing, the wrapping consists basically of an open exible butler box having end flaps 11, 12 and longitudinal side flaps 13, 14. The end flaps 11, 12 may be folded back along folding lines 11A and 12A, respectively, two or more folding lines extending in parallel, if desired, so that after folding back the end flaps the box will have a certain thickness. Similarly, the longitudinal flaps are folded back along folding lines 13A, 14A.

Along each longitudinal edge the box 19 has three supporting flaps formed by two cuts substantially perpendicular to each other and connected by a folding line. These aps may be folded up through 90 around their folding lines so that on either side of the box 10 all three flaps have one cut edge located in a common plane perpendicular to the box body 10A between the flaps 11-14.

To wrap an object, the supporting aps 15 are first folded up and then the object A is placed between them and the end flaps 11, 12 are then folded over, see FIG. lb. The longitudinal flaps 13, 14 are folded over and the supporting flaps 1S will thereby assume a supporting position automatically determined by the thickness of the object A placed in theV box. Now, the wrapping has the appearance shown in FIG. lc. Finally, the box with its contents may be put in the outer cover 16 shown in FIG. 1d. The cover 16 may be closed permanently or to be readily opened, whichever is desired.

The embodiment in FIG. 2 dilfers from the one described above particularly in that the folding lines, in this case generally designated by 17, are disposed almost entirely in accordance with the outline of the object A As a result, the ends of the longitudinal flaps 13, 14, when folded over, will form impact absorbing buffers 18, as apparent from FIGS. 2b and 2c. The four aps 19 are designed such that on folding over of the longitudinal flaps they maintain their position in the same plane as the box body 10A, so that the aps 19 automatic-ally form impact absorbing buffers. The outer cover 16 is exactly like the other cover described above.

In the embodiment according to FIGURE 3, the box 10 very much resembles the oneashown in FIG. l. However, in FIG. 3 the longitudinal flaps 13, 14 have been provided at their outer edges with oppositely directed tongues 20, 21 which engage each other when the ilaps are folded over and thereby hold the flaps in folded position. Here an automatic locking is obtained, and as will be apparent from FIG. 3c, this box is eminently suitable for other deliverythan by mail such as internal delivery by messenger in a large oflice. In such case, of course, no outer cover is necessary.

FIG. 4 shows that the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 3 may very well be supplemented by an outer`cover 16 corresponding to the one described above. In the latter case, the presence of the tongues 20, 21 is justified by the fact that they hold the box together tightly and thereby facilitate its introduction into the outer cover 16, thus rendering unnecessary a manual holding down of the aps l13, 14.

If it should be desirable with a view to saving postage expenses or to using the invention for other purposes, it should be possible, in some cases, to provide openings of varying sizes in the box body 10A without noticeably weakening its strength, such as the openings 22 indicated by broken lines.

It will be appreciated that many modications and alterations of details are possible within the scope of the inventive idea.

I claim:

1. A wrapping for packing thin flat objects in a exible butler box comprising a flat body having foldable end flaps Vand longitudinal side flaps, said -body having portions for supporting said objects against displacement laterally and longitudinally and having projecting portions, in the folded condition of the box, beyond the outline of said objects when packed in said box forming impact absorbing buffers.

2. A wrapping as claimed in claim 1, wherein said supporting portions consist of raisable flaps stamped out in said body and longitudinal side flaps, and said butler portions are formed in said body, said longitudinal side aps and said end aps being located outside the outline of said objects, when the box has been folded.

3. A wrapping as claimed in claim 1, wherein said supporting portions are formed in said end aps and said longitudinal side flaps and said buffer portions are formed by tongues lying in the pl-ane of the box body and projecting beyond the longitudinal side flaps, in the foldedback condition thereof, and by the end portions of the longitudinal side flaps outside the folded-back end flaps.

4. A wrapping as claimed in claim 1-, wherein the free edges of saidl longitudinal side aps have oppositely directed `tongues adapted to engage each other for locking said longitudinal side aps in folded-back position.

5. A Wrapping as claimed in claim 1 wherein an outer cover is provided for said buffer box.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Y 830,127 9/1906 Ziegler 229-87 Christensen 229-40 Emrich 229-87 XR Batty 229-87 Loth 229-87 XR Tremblett 229-928 XR Hoshino et'al.

Skaggs 229-40 DAVIS T. MOORHEAD, Primm Examiner. 

1. A WRAPPING FOR PACKING THIN FLAT OBJECTS IN A FLEXIBLE BUFFER BOX COMPRISING A FLAT BODY HAVING FOLDABLE END FLAPS AND LONGITUDINAL SIDE FLAPS, SAID BODY HAVING PORTIONS FOR SUPPORTING SAID OBJECTS AGAINST DISPLACEMENT LATERALLY AND LONGITUDINALLY AND HAVING PROJECTING PORTIONS, IN THE FLODED CONDITION OF THE BOX, BEYOND THE OUTLINE OF SAID OBJECTS WHEN PACKED IN SAID BOX FORMING IMPACT ABSORBING BUFFERS. 